Sunday, January 25, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Will Obama visit with the words of Martin Luther King Jr.?
Many great men and women have gone before him. They have left a legacy in history that has shaped our world. Our future shape; and that of a safe planet for our children, now hangs in the balance. From the introduction in ZERO Greenhouse Emissions - The Day the Lights Went Out - Our Future World www.strategicbookpublishing.com/ZEROGreenhouseEmissions.html comes the following excerpt:-
A few great men and women may start out being the power of one, but no single great man, no single great woman, from the start of history or into the future, will make a change without collective will.
We need collective will, collective effort, and collective vision, for our collective future. You and yours. Me and mine. Them and theirs.
End excerpt.
At this historic time of the election to the Presidency of the United States of America, we might hope that the 44th President; the first African American President to hold sway in the Oval Office, might revisit the words of another great American Statesman.
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 speaking in Los Angeles on the matter of the war in Vietnam had this to say:
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The ‘tide in the affairs of men’ does not remain at flood: it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ‘Too late.’”
These words 'Too late' now written in history must not become the epitaph left by us, to be uttered by our children. Unless we now collectively take action on climate change and accept our personal responsibility as part of the problem to become inspired to be a part of the solution, as self imperatives - too late will be our fate.
We have clear 20/20 hindsight on the mistakes made by past civilizations now consigned to history. We know with 20/20 foresight that the well trodden road (and the resultant pollution of our planet and ever rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere) we are on with the 'business and living as usual' model, adopted by the developed and fast developing nations, will soon leave the legacy of our past actions; although not done with malice aforethought, for our children to inherit.
Let us not 'cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage' ; let us collectively cry out and become the parade of concern for a safe future for our children and theirs. Let this parade be the one that our global politicians can walk in front of; and make the hard policy decisions necessary with a mandate from the common man.
Call on them to become the Statesman we need.
Before it is 'TOO LATE'
A few great men and women may start out being the power of one, but no single great man, no single great woman, from the start of history or into the future, will make a change without collective will.
We need collective will, collective effort, and collective vision, for our collective future. You and yours. Me and mine. Them and theirs.
End excerpt.
At this historic time of the election to the Presidency of the United States of America, we might hope that the 44th President; the first African American President to hold sway in the Oval Office, might revisit the words of another great American Statesman.
Martin Luther King Jr. in 1967 speaking in Los Angeles on the matter of the war in Vietnam had this to say:
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked and dejected with a lost opportunity. The ‘tide in the affairs of men’ does not remain at flood: it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is deaf to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residue of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ‘Too late.’”
These words 'Too late' now written in history must not become the epitaph left by us, to be uttered by our children. Unless we now collectively take action on climate change and accept our personal responsibility as part of the problem to become inspired to be a part of the solution, as self imperatives - too late will be our fate.
We have clear 20/20 hindsight on the mistakes made by past civilizations now consigned to history. We know with 20/20 foresight that the well trodden road (and the resultant pollution of our planet and ever rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere) we are on with the 'business and living as usual' model, adopted by the developed and fast developing nations, will soon leave the legacy of our past actions; although not done with malice aforethought, for our children to inherit.
Let us not 'cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage' ; let us collectively cry out and become the parade of concern for a safe future for our children and theirs. Let this parade be the one that our global politicians can walk in front of; and make the hard policy decisions necessary with a mandate from the common man.
Call on them to become the Statesman we need.
Before it is 'TOO LATE'
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Obama - Four years to fix it?
When I sat down to write 'ZERO Greenhouse Emissions - The Day the Lights Went Out - Our Future World' www.strategicbookpublishing.com/ZEROGreenhouseEmissions.html I posed many perplexing questions. This was one of them.
Excerpt:
Politicians say that with 20/20 hindsight they might have made different choices, but the political system of four years in office does not provide them with the luxury of making decisions with 20/20 foresight beyond their current term of office.
They tell us how in developed countries reliant on the business as usual model that any disruption to economic growth will affect our standard of living. To preserve it they defend the growth of industry and massive subsidies provided to the world’s fossil fuel industry, still being subsidized with more than $210 billion annually.
They tell you how they were voted out of office, for policies you and I thought affected us and ours. They know with 20/20 foresight that the model adopted by the industrialized world is not infinitely sustainable and that it is destined for demise—but not in their term of office.
In any future for you and yours, me and mine, them and theirs, we don’t need politicians designed for demise. For the sake of human sustainability, we need statesmen with infinite wisdom.
End Excerpt;
As the world sits and waits for the arrival of the Obama era, Americans and many others pray that he will enact the change necessary to make him the Statesman of the 21st century.
He will face more challenges throughout his term of office. than possibly any other president. Many of his predecessors were greatly challenged. Roosevelt will go down in history in many eyes, as the greatest American Statesman. He faced his many challenges as opportunities. He changed history with action. He galvanised the American people, it's industries and at a war time pace, shifted American manufacturing industry from stagnation to what was needed in a time of war.
Obama faces a similar global war that will be fought against catastrophic climate change. The action needed, is to be, at war time pace.
As Roosevelt did, Obama could change similar industrial stagnation and financial crisis, with a concerted shift away from redundant industry to one that provides both jobs and direction to a new and greener America. But will he?
Could four years of God in the oval office do it?
We may ask, but he's busy playing golf!
"Which club are you using for the next shot?" asks St Peter. God slips him a sly grin. He knew the game was getting a bit tight with St Peter three strokes up at the end of the 17th. Taking out his number 1 wood for the par five 18th hole, St Peter hits it straight and true down the middle of the fairway. "Nice shot." admits God a little reluctantly. God limbers up and with the grin and a little frustration takes his best hit. A slice to the right, the ball hits a tree and lands in the rough. Out of the long grass, a rabbit picks up the ball, running with it onto the fairway. Down swoops an eagle picking up the rabbit in his talons. Flying down the fairway over the 18th hole the eagle drops the rabbit, the rabbit drops the ball and the ball drops cleanly into the hole. "Oh for Christ sake" says St Peter "It's only a bloody game!"
So as we wait the inauguration of president-elect Obama, we may ask if he wishes to be the Statesman of 21st century America, or will he be playing golf?
Could four years of God in the oval office fix the mess?
Will four years of Obama in the oval office fix the mess?
Let's not ask too much - but let us pray for Divine intervention.
Let us stick to the fairway of the change we need to see and be.
For you and yours. For me and mine. For them and theirs.
Will Obama look back with 20/20 hindsight four years from now; of which it is said we can be wise, and ask what could he have done? Or with 20/20 foresight on the four years ahead with the road we are on, do what has to be done?
Will he be wise?
Will he snatch victory from the hands of defeat?
Will he be the Statesman we need? We will see.
Excerpt:
Politicians say that with 20/20 hindsight they might have made different choices, but the political system of four years in office does not provide them with the luxury of making decisions with 20/20 foresight beyond their current term of office.
They tell us how in developed countries reliant on the business as usual model that any disruption to economic growth will affect our standard of living. To preserve it they defend the growth of industry and massive subsidies provided to the world’s fossil fuel industry, still being subsidized with more than $210 billion annually.
They tell you how they were voted out of office, for policies you and I thought affected us and ours. They know with 20/20 foresight that the model adopted by the industrialized world is not infinitely sustainable and that it is destined for demise—but not in their term of office.
In any future for you and yours, me and mine, them and theirs, we don’t need politicians designed for demise. For the sake of human sustainability, we need statesmen with infinite wisdom.
End Excerpt;
As the world sits and waits for the arrival of the Obama era, Americans and many others pray that he will enact the change necessary to make him the Statesman of the 21st century.
He will face more challenges throughout his term of office. than possibly any other president. Many of his predecessors were greatly challenged. Roosevelt will go down in history in many eyes, as the greatest American Statesman. He faced his many challenges as opportunities. He changed history with action. He galvanised the American people, it's industries and at a war time pace, shifted American manufacturing industry from stagnation to what was needed in a time of war.
Obama faces a similar global war that will be fought against catastrophic climate change. The action needed, is to be, at war time pace.
As Roosevelt did, Obama could change similar industrial stagnation and financial crisis, with a concerted shift away from redundant industry to one that provides both jobs and direction to a new and greener America. But will he?
Could four years of God in the oval office do it?
We may ask, but he's busy playing golf!
"Which club are you using for the next shot?" asks St Peter. God slips him a sly grin. He knew the game was getting a bit tight with St Peter three strokes up at the end of the 17th. Taking out his number 1 wood for the par five 18th hole, St Peter hits it straight and true down the middle of the fairway. "Nice shot." admits God a little reluctantly. God limbers up and with the grin and a little frustration takes his best hit. A slice to the right, the ball hits a tree and lands in the rough. Out of the long grass, a rabbit picks up the ball, running with it onto the fairway. Down swoops an eagle picking up the rabbit in his talons. Flying down the fairway over the 18th hole the eagle drops the rabbit, the rabbit drops the ball and the ball drops cleanly into the hole. "Oh for Christ sake" says St Peter "It's only a bloody game!"
So as we wait the inauguration of president-elect Obama, we may ask if he wishes to be the Statesman of 21st century America, or will he be playing golf?
Could four years of God in the oval office fix the mess?
Will four years of Obama in the oval office fix the mess?
Let's not ask too much - but let us pray for Divine intervention.
Let us stick to the fairway of the change we need to see and be.
For you and yours. For me and mine. For them and theirs.
Will Obama look back with 20/20 hindsight four years from now; of which it is said we can be wise, and ask what could he have done? Or with 20/20 foresight on the four years ahead with the road we are on, do what has to be done?
Will he be wise?
Will he snatch victory from the hands of defeat?
Will he be the Statesman we need? We will see.
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